Chinese billionaire Cao Dewang, whose glass-making empire was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary American Factory, has urged Chinese investors expanding overseas to respect local laws, regulations and culture, drawing on decades of experience building a global manufacturing business amid shifting US-China relations.
Speaking at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on Monday, the founder of Fuyao Glass said the approach had been central to the firm’s success in the US and warned against simply transplanting Chinese practices overseas.
“When I go to America, I use American people and American resources,” he said, adding that Fuyao’s US operations employed between 6,000 and 7,000 people, with fewer than 200 staff sent from China.
Cao, 80, known as “China’s glass king”, founded Fuyao in 1987 and transformed it into the world’s largest automotive glass manufacturer.